Four games ago, the Dodgers were on a pace to win 128 games. They would win the National League West by, what, 20 or 30 games?
Today, for the first time this season, the Dodgers do not own sole possession of first place in the NL West.
They are tied for first with their rivals: the San Diego Padres.
On a cold and intermittently rainy night in San Francisco, the Dodgers’ bats were cold, and most productive when not used. In a 3-1 loss to the Giants, the Dodgers scored their only run by bunching four walks in one hitless inning.
In the first inning, the Giants tagged Yoshinobu Yamamoto for three runs before he had recorded the second out. Yamamoto righted himself by retiring the next 11 batters he faced, but the Dodgers lost for the third time in four games.
The shine on the Dodgers’ most historic rivalry has faded, right along with the Giants. San Francisco has posted one winning record in the last nine seasons, and the chants of “Let’s Go Dodgers!” at Oracle Park were more spirited than the chants of “Beat L.A.!” until the last couple of innings.
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The Dodgers collected three hits, never more than one in an inning. They had a prime chance to score in the seventh, when Alex Freeland walked and Shohei Ohtani singled to put the would-be tying runs on base with two out.
Kyle Tucker then struck out, for the third consecutive at-bat.
In 28 at-bats this season with runners in scoring position, Tucker is batting .214, with no extra-base hits.
The walk did extend Ohtani’s on-base streak to 53 games, tying Shawn Green for the longest in Los Angeles Dodgers history. The franchise record: 58, by Hall of Famer Duke Snider for the 1954 Brooklyn Dodgers.
Yamamoto finished his evening’s work by striking out the side. He completed seven innings for the second consecutive start, something he did not accomplish until September last season.
He was succeeded on the mound by Tanner Scott, whom manager Dave Roberts had said before the game might be the first choice in a save situation. In this situation, with the heart of the Giants’ order due up in the eighth inning and two left-handed hitters included, Roberts summoned the left-handed Scott.
Scott worked a scoreless inning, lowering his earned-run average to 0.93.
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The first inning was ugly. The first batter singled, then advanced to second base on a throwing error by shortstop Hyeseong Kim. The second batter singled, the third batter walked, and the fourth batter singled home a run.
Casey Schmitt then hit a very catchable fly ball to left-center field, where left fielder Teoscar Hernández and center fielder Alex Call tried to catch it. Call did, but he slammed into Hernandez and tumbled to the ground. He did get up in time to return the ball to the infield, but the Giants scored a run on what was scored as a sacrifice fly, then another run on a dying fly ball that dropped just in front of Tucker for a single.
That put the Giants up 3-0 with one out, marking the first time in five starts this season that Yamamoto had given up more than two runs in a game. The next two outs were long outs, one to the warning track and one almost as far, balls that might have carried for extra-base hits on a warmer night. After throwing 26 pitches in that first inning, Yamamoto threw 28 over the next three.
In all, Yamamoto gave up six hits over seven innings, striking out seven. All of his first five starts have been quality starts; no other major league pitcher has more than four.
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